Aldrich Potgieter confirmed his capability to shoot low within the Mexico Open, powering and placing his option to a 10-under 61 that gave the big-hitting South African a four-shot clubhouse lead, with England’s Aaron Rai 5 pictures again in fourth.
Potgieter chipped in for par after a tee shot into the water on the tenth gap. He did not birdie two of the shorter par-fives on the again 9, however nonetheless had an out of doors probability at one other sub-60 spherical, having shot 59 on the Korn Ferry Tour a 12 months in the past.
These hopes ended with a tee shot into the bunker on the par-five 18th gap, and an strategy that got here up quick into one other bunker. The ball stayed close to the lip, making it troublesome for him to get the 20-yard bunker shot shut. He two-putted from 25 ft for par.
Potgieter nonetheless tied the course file together with his 61 and is at 16-under 126, 4 pictures forward of Germany’s Stephan Jaeger (64) and the USA’s Brian Campbell.
Dwell PGA Tour Golf
Saturday twenty second February 2:00pm
It was excellent show by 20-year-old Potgieter, who gained the 2022 Novice Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes at age 17 and final 12 months grew to become the youngest participant (19) to win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I really like the golf course. It positively fits my recreation, I believe, in quite a lot of features,” Potgieter mentioned. “If I can maintain placing properly, I believe it ought to be fairly good.”
Though his energy and ball-striking stand out, his putter is what led to the 61, with Potgieter holing seven putts from the 10-foot vary or longer. That doesn’t embody the tenth, the place his tee shot discovered the water, he got here up simply wanting the inexperienced and chipped in from 20 ft for par.
He reached the 661-yard twelfth gap in two by hitting driver off the green to simply over 20 ft, whereas seven of his drives went 325 yards or longer.
Watch the third spherical of the Mexico Open on Saturday dwell on Sky Sports activities Golf from 2pm, and from Sky Sports activities Predominant Occasion at 8.30pm
